How much would a C affect my chance in getting into a good graduate program?

Graduate School
1

<p>My goal is to get into the computer engineering program at UIUC, which is a top ranked program. I asked them and someone there mentioned that the average GPA for their admitted grad student is 3.5, and they look at the last 60 hours. My average GPA for the last 60 hours is about a 3.8. I pretty much got As in all my engineering classes except one C in digital signal processing. There are a few reasons for this:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>The course was very heavy on Matlab and I had no prior Matlab experience prior to that,so I had to learn Matlab concurrently. The professor expected us to have Matlab experience because he also teaches an intro ECE class that covers Matlab. I however, transferred from another school and did not have such a strong Matlab background.</p></li>
<li><p>During our semester, the professor was attempting to write a textbook, and we used the textbook that he was writing, chapter by chapter throughout the course. IMHO, it was a poor textbook, very confusing and make simple things hard. Very little examples.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Again, I got As in all my other engineering courses and I can get very good recommendations. I also designed an electronic device on the side and started a small business selling it, and it's selling decently well.</p>

2

<p>I would not worry about it.</p>

<p>At worst, find a job at UIUC and take some courses that would be in your graduate degree with tuition waived. That’s how I got into a good graduate school with a 2.7 GPA undergrad.</p>

3

<p>Can you please elaborate on that? I’m not sure I understand what I’m supposed to do exactly. What kind job? And how will it help me get admitted? thanks</p>

4

<p>What @rhandco is referring to is the fact that usually, universities allow their employees to take a few classes a semester as a benefit of their job. So sometimes people get a job at a university and take a few classes for free. Some people use this as a way to take just a few classes and show that they can succeed in graduate school; some people do an entire master’s program part-time this way.</p>

<p>Don’t worry about that. You have one C, with a 3.8 GPA. You still have pretty good chances of getting into a top program assuming that the rest of your application is also outstanding. One C is not going to destroy you.</p>